Lots has been happening, so although I’d intended to skip posting this week because I already posted on Wednesday, there’s plenty to put up. Also: I’ve been posting these lists on Saturdays, but I think Friday may work better, so here we go.

Socio-political commentary

Laurie Penny: On Nerd Entitlement. White male nerds need to recognise that other people had traumatic upbringings, too – and that’s different from structural oppression.

The Viagra vote? Campaign research pushes the bounds of privacy. “Data mining has become so sophisticated that campaigns can now target voters by mashing together public records with much more personal information from Facebook feeds and consumer reports that offer such nuggets as who has sterling credit ratings but hasn’t purchased a car in seven or more years. One company even wants to get into the political market by selling campaigns data that identifies which voters sought information on Viagra and other erectile-dysfunction drugs.” (via Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd)

In my last World Pool post I linked to the suicide note of trans teenager Leelah Alcorn. The New Statesman published an article calling on people not to publicize her death, all in the interests of trans people at risk; here are two articles taking issue with that position and ripping the NS writer a new one.

UPDATE: Leelah Alcorn’s Tumblr site and suicide message have been purged from the net, presumably at the request of her family, but can still be found online: The Toast reproduces the suicide note here, and the first two comments on this blog post include links to archives of it.

Evidently the NYPD’s protest action of reducing policing is working so well that people have noticed that policing has actually gotten better.

Just for fun

Hope

In some ways I found this complex story of genocide and its aftermath a hopeful one to start the year with, as it shows that at least some individuals can turn aside from what history defines for them: A Century of Silence. “These days, if a stranger, a shopkeeper, a person offering directions learns that you are Armenian and of Diyarbakir ancestry, you will be ushered into a home, welcomed with tea, treated like a long-lost relative deserving honor. You will behemşerim: a person of this place.” (via Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry)

And finally… Mary Lambert: Secrets. A delightful, cheerful song celebrating diversity and calling for an end to hiding who we are.